Amanda Burk is disappointed to see her sweet times in Sharpsburg potentially coming to an end.
The owner of Sugar Spell Scoops, a vegan ice cream spot along North Canal Street, announced the store is closing — with its final hours the first weekend of January.
The lease expires Jan. 30 and Burk plans to launch a search for a larger space — with hopes that she lands back in the borough.
“We love it here,” said Burk of Reserve. “It’s been incredible, and we’ve made such a bond with the community.”
Success with her line of products, crafted from fresh-made cashew, hemp and other nut milks, has necessitated more room. Inside the current cozy spot, there’s a tiny kitchen that prohibits mass production and only a few seats for diners.
“It would be wonderful to find a place in town. It just depends what’s available,” she said.
Afterall, Sharpsburg is where Burk’s dreams of opening an ice cream parlor started nearly a decade ago.
After graduating from the plant-based culinary school, Natural Epicurean Academy in Texas, Burk pursued her passion for vegan ice cream-making at a borough co-working space along Main Street.
She also was working at a vegetarian restaurant in Aspinwall at the time, which allowed her to create ice cream and dish up samples for customers.
“I got a little ice cream machine and started to experiment,” she said. “We moved in here in 2019 and got a bigger ice cream machine, and now we just need more space.”
The store’s name is a nod to the vegan cane sugar and agave that sweetens her products — similar to the sugar used in magic to create powerful sugar spells to usher in happiness, love, good fortune and peace, she said.
Products at Burk’s sweet shop range from sweet to savory and wildly imaginative.
Iced lemon muffin is stuffed with cookie crumbles and a vanilla glaze; peppermint stick is full of crushed candies and topped with green whipped cream.
A seasonal Krampus flavor is made with activated charcoal, chocolate cookies, cocoa-covered coconut and red sprinkles.
Burk estimates about half of her customers are vegan but said a good many pop in just because they like the products, which include pints and floats, cones, cakes and sundaes.
Among the dozens of flavors, peanut butter chocolate ripple is the fan favorite.
“The hardest part of closing is that we grew with the people in town,” she said. “We wanted to be a happy spot in their day.”
